Transmission-gearing for motor-vehicles.



H. N. FULLENWEIDER. TRANSMISSION GEARING ron MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FlLED JULY 1. I914.

" 1,252,338. Patented Jan. 1,1918.

UNITED "STATES HENRY N. iULLENWEIDER. F. WAVELAND. INDIANA.

TRANSMISSION-GEARING FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 1:. 1918.

Application filed July 1. 1914. Serial No. 848 426.

To u/t W/m/H it may mime/ n;

lio it known that l. l-lizxur Fiuinxurnncn. a vitizon of tho l'uitodhtatoi renltllllg at \\'a\"o|and. in tho oonntv of Huntgonnif) and $1alo of Indiana. ha\'o inrontodv now and nsol'ul llll|H'()VPlll(lltH in'Irnnsini -.ion-(ioaring for Motor-\'ohiclo:+. at which tho following isa SiH't'lliCtttlUll.

This in volition rolato s to transmission goaring for motor vohiolos.1h!- ohjoot in viow bring to prodnro a simplo'and roliahle mot'hanisnifor varying tlnrylativo HPtOtlH oi" tho rlri ing shaft and driving axloand to 5a assoriatr :hrmovhanisin of this lllH'Ill'lul} with tho nwnaldili'oiontial goaring that it will not-up a ilUts'lJ rolatinn tothrmastor goar ol" 'll'll tlitlormitial goaring. tho :+aid lllasltl goalin fart sorvinthas tho drivon olt llltlll ot' the transmission goaring.

"ith tho above-and othorohjocts in view,

tho invontirm consists in tho novol construction. romliination andarrangoinont of parts, as will ho horoiinlt'tor lnoro fully doscrihod.illusaratod and claimod.

in tho avrompanying,dra\vings:

l 'ignro t if; a vortioal longitudinal sootion through one" torn] oftransmission gearing olnlnidying tho prosont invontion. said sooiionextruding also through tho housing of tho. dilforrntial goal-in. soinoof tho parts living in ohnation.

Fig. E ia an ond olovution oi ono of the worn] gears.

l ig. is a detail oross suction through tho drive shaft on tholino, 3-3of Fig. 1..

Fig. 4 is; a dotail fragn ontary section of tho master goai' showingtho'inani'ior of mounting tho toot-h of saidgoar.

Reforring primarily to Figs. 1 to l inclusivo, 1 dosignatos the usualdriving shaft ofya. motor whit-lo. usually coupled to and artuatod bythe engine. 2 dosignatos the master gear of tho diflerentialgaming and 3the housing oft-he last namod gearing, which hous'ting is oxtendod toform the housing 4 of the transmissiongoaring of this invention, tholast named housing lghoing closed at'ono end by .lnoans of adotaohahlecap 5 which when removed permits tho ontiro transmissiongearing to bewithdrawn from the? housing 4.

' In carrying out the present i-nvontion the master gear 2 is providodwith tooth (3 each of which in mountod to rotatet'olativol to tho,ooriphorjr of the goar its shown in Fig. 4 whoron'i a. tooth 6 15 shownformed with a groove 7 thorein to recoivo a hr 8 which permits tho toothto turn ,frooly within its socket or opening in the body of the gear androt prevents the escape and loss of said tooth Tho driving shaft 1,under the present invention. oxtonds in a plano tangential to theporiphonv of tho'inastorgear 2 and is provided with any dosirod nunihorof keys 9 as shown in Fig. said keys being of a oertain longthrolatiroly to the longth of each of tho. worm goats horeinaftordescribed. Mounted within tho. housing t is a slidahle rage 10 which ii;nnivahlo longitudinally of and upon tho drivo shaft 3. said drivo shafthaving itn roar 'o. ;t-ro1nit jonrnalod in a lwaring oxtonsion 11 ofthodotachable rap .i'at the roar end of tho houin'g. Tho. cage 10 is'shifted longitudinally ot tli shaft 1 and the housing 4 by moans of agear shift rod 12 which is adaptod to ho oonnootml to and actuated bythe. usual hand operatedgoal shift lever now in present, use onautomobiles and othor motor vehicles:

Mounted on tho shaft 1 and within the rage [0 are worin' goars 13.14 and15. the lust. namod worm constituting the reverse gear. the 'throznlsthereon being pitched revorsoly to the threads of the forwz-ird drivinggears 13 and 14. Each of the Worm goars is formed with grmvos ltiintoriorly threaded and corresponding in number to the mnnbor of keys 9on the shaft It as shown in Fig. 2 and the ltieys 9 are of a length lessthan one-half the length of each worm gear 13, 14 and 15 so that eachworm gear mustnec-ossarily he disconnected from tho driving; shaft lbefore another Worm gear is- (Joniieotod therewith by means of said keys9. This prevents-tiny posSibilit-y of two of the worin gears beinglooked to thosha-tt at the sometime which would be disastrous t0 thteethof the gears ooncernod.

The worm gears 13, 14 and 15 are entirely.

independent from ouch other and each is'.

. relation to the master gear 2. The gear 13 constitutes the low spedgear. The gear L4 has toeth'of groater pitch and theref re constitutesa. higher speed munder the construc- 'tion shown thehigh speed gearwhile the worm gear 15 having its teeth inversely means of a detent 17shown in the form of.

a pin movable into and out of engagement with a number of sockets 18, i9and 20 correspondin ."With'the worm gears 13, let and 15' to hol theletter in a certain fixed rela tion to the master gear 2. (.lrdinarilythe locking pin will be operated by suitable con nections from the gearshift lever or from the clutch pedal so that. when the clutch is in, thecage is locked and the cage is not relea%d until the clutch is thrustout. The circular formation of the teeth 6 provide for shifting any oneof the worm gears into and out of engagement with the master gear, whichwould not be possible with the teeth 6 of the ordinary spiral or spurtype.

From the foregoing description talker) in connection with theaccompanying drawings it will now be understood that it is a simplematter to ri'iange the ratio between the driving shaft and the drivingaxle of amotor vehicle. The change .from one speed to another is madewith facility and the locking mechanism referred to prevents thestripping o f the gear teeth by the engagement of more than one wormgear at a time with the driving shaft and the master gear. It isacomparatively simple matter to detach the cap 5 of Fig. l. whereuponthe worm gears may be removed and replaced or interchanged with otherworm gears of difl'erent pitch as may be deemed expedient or as requiredby the particular class of work to be performed by the motor vehicle.

The invention is designed primarily for use on auton'iobiles, motortrucks, motorcycles and tractors but is also applicable to many othermachines such as lathes and. the like Where variation in speed or gearratio is desirable. i

What I claim is A master differential gear having teeth on the peripherythereof, in combination with a nonshiftable driving shaft tangential tosaid master gear, a plurality of independent worm gears nornmlly looseon said driving shaft and arranged end to end and adapted to bepositioned one at a time in mesh with said master gear. a cage in whichthe worm gems are rotatably mounted and by means of which they areadapted to be shifted along said shaft, means whereby any one of saidworm gears may be locked to said driv-' ing shaft only while in meshwith said master gear leaving the remaining gears free and idle, andmeans for locking-said cage while any one of said worm gears is in meshwith the. master gear.

In testimony whereotl affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY N. F ULLENWEIDER.

Witnesses: I

R. HEATH, DUMoN'r'KnNNnnY.

